


Pretending

by caffeine-vaccine (HashtagLEH)



Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [10]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auradon Prep (Disney), Awesome Ben (Disney: Descendants), F/F, F/M, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Manipulation, Multi, Polyamory, United States of Auradon (Disney), d1 rewrite, pre-OT5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25375729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HashtagLEH/pseuds/caffeine-vaccine
Summary: The anti-love potion had a stronger flavor than the love potion, so she had hidden it in a chocolate-based cookie. With Ben liking chocolate so much, it was convenient, because he wouldn’t be able to resist the dessert when she gave it to him. It had been made less than a week after the first love potion – coincidentally (or not) the night after they had gotten back from that first date at the Lake. It had been hidden under her bed since then – just in case.“God, they’re going to hate me,” she muttered to herself, even as she rose to her feet and took the cookie back to Ben.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Audrey Rose (Disney), Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil, Jay/Carlos de Vil, pre- Ben/Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil
Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600366
Comments: 14
Kudos: 190





	Pretending

**Author's Note:**

> I finally sat down and wrote this in a few hours - I've had the first 500 or so words done for months, and now here is 4000 more. ;) Hope you like it!
> 
> WARNINGS: To avoid spoilers for people who read this first, I've put warnings in the end note. It basically tells what happens in the fic but for anyone concerned about love potion ramifications and so forth may want to read that first due to the somewhat sensitive nature of the topic.

Ben had been uncertain as time went on just what, exactly, the Four’s intentions were when they had dosed him with a love potion.

The thing was, as far as he could tell, they didn’t _do_ anything to take advantage of him. They acted just as they had before, though perhaps a bit more reserved and wary. It hurt, a bit, that he could see the physical evidence of how much they had been hurt and scared by the actions of everyone at that Garden Party, those who had seen no problem in attacking teenagers for the misdeeds of their parents. But he also didn’t blame them for strengthening the guards he’d not noticed before had begun to slip in their few weeks there.

But at least with the potion, he had an excuse to be around them a lot, and he took full advantage of it, careful to make it look like he was focused completely on Mal rather than listening to any of the rest of them, because that’s what the potion would make him do. He distinctly remembered dismissing the other three in favor of only Mal, selfishly keeping her to himself and not caring that he had had a small crush on all four of them. It was strange, remembering it, because it was like looking at everything through a bubble, everything distorted and tinted.

He also remembered Audrey trying to talk to him the day before his date with Mal, and she had said he was acting strange, and he had completely dismissed her at the time, irritated that she must think that Mal wasn’t worth his time (or at least that was how he had interpreted it in his drugged haze). He didn’t want to tell her now that the four had dosed him with a love potion, so he let her think that he had just been stressed after the Garden Party, and made sure he acted more normal around her after the potion wore off. He didn’t want to make anyone else suspicious.

(Although, it did get hard to do if both Mal and Audrey were there. Somehow he managed it. Everyone thought that they were dating, after all. A little infatuation wouldn’t be seen as strange.)

Because he was around the four a lot, he knew that there was the possibility that he was putting himself in danger, that maybe there was some plot or plan against the kingdom and their actions maybe weren’t borne out of fear, after all. He knew what his parents would say if they knew what he was trying to do – that they were raised by Villains, and that they only knew Evil, and surely they would hurt him if they thought he was drugged to their will.

But he didn’t honestly think that they were capable of _really_ hurting someone like that. Or at least someone innocent – he knew by now that they were the most powerful gang on the Isle, and that didn’t come by saying “please” and “thank you”. But even for their harsh words and vandalism and messing with people in Auradon, they had yet to actually _hurt_ someone to get their way.

And so he watched the four, trying to figure out their game plan... and he came up completely blank. They never _tried_ anything. And he was watching; he knew that sometimes he could be a bit naïve, due to a somewhat sheltered upbringing (at least in comparison to the Four), but he was certain that they weren’t actually trying to manipulate him in any way. At least, not any more than they already had, but Ben was uncertain whether to count that as manipulation, considering that the things they asked were things he was already doing anyway. But maybe he was more naïve than even he had thought and he was missing something along the way.

School picked up again as they drew closer to the end of term, and so Ben wasn’t able to take Mal on any more dates, but somehow he thought Mal was okay with that. She spent a lot of time with the other three, but whenever Ben joined them she just moved aside a bit to leave him some room, all of them continuing their conversation without pause. He supposed that they could have noticed him coming and turned their conversation into more neutral territory, but they never seemed concerned that he might have heard the tail end of something sketchy, so he couldn’t be certain. Perhaps they were just _that_ good.

But because she was spending more time with the others, if Ben wanted to keep up the ruse that he was still under a love potion, he needed to spend time with her, and because of that he unavoidably ended up spending time with all four of them.

And because of this, it actually became _harder_ for him to pretend that he was still under the effects of the potion, because as time went on, he actually found himself falling for _all_ of them. For real falling for them – he knew because it happened so slowly that he hardly even noticed it before one day he found himself watching Evie admiringly as she threw her head back while letting out a delighted laugh at a stupid joke that Jay cracked. And then he looked over to Carlos’ practically uncontrollable giggling while clutching Dude to his chest, Jay looking on smugly at what his joke had wrought while Mal called out accusingly how terrible it was, yet still unable to completely hide the laughter in her voice. At all of this, he thought that his heart might burst with the fondness he felt – not for any one of them in particular, not exactly, but for all four of them, together. He thought that if even one of them was gone that the company would feel incomplete.

He quickly looked at Mal when he realized what he was feeling, grateful that she wasn’t looking back at him to notice that his thoughts and affections had wandered to encompass all four of them rather than just her, as the potion was supposed to do.

And that reminder, of what they were doing, of what he was _pretending_ , was like a shock of cold water to his system. How could he possibly be falling for them, after what they had done? He should be horrified – he should have distanced himself as soon as he figured out what had happened.

But…he didn’t want to. Sure, anyone else ( _everyone_ else) would probably call him naïve for thinking the best of them after what had happened, but he didn’t plan to ever tell anyone, anyway. Not unless they did something to prove, once and for all, that they couldn’t be trusted.

He wasn’t going to go into this blindly, though, he decided. Sure, they hadn’t done anything more than make sure they could stay in Auradon in the three weeks since the love potion, but maybe the opportunity just hadn’t…presented itself.

Ben ought to change that, he decided. Because he would rather know sooner rather than later if it would be wise to be handing the Four from the Isle his heart on a platter.

***

Ben seemed very insistent on a date, stating that they hadn’t been on one since the one they took to the Enchanted Lake. Mal decided that Ben shouldn’t be getting too suspicious about her reluctance to be alone with him, and agreed to one that Friday, right after classes let out so that they could be back before dark.

The other three had varying degrees of concern that something had changed, because Ben hadn’t insisted on a date since the day he had taken the love potion, but Mal dismissed their worries, because if something was wrong with the love potion then they would have already been on the Isle, not splitting off to go on dates.

Jay and Carlos were going to spend some time together – ostensibly practicing tourney, but they all knew that it was just code for “making time” with each other when the others were busy. Evie had plans with Audrey to whip up the finishing touches on their gowns for the coronation the following week, so it was really the perfect time to go on a date with Ben and keep up the ruse of faithful girlfriend.

Still, although Mal wouldn’t admit it to any of the others, she couldn’t get rid of the knot in her stomach that told her that something was off.

Everything seemed pretty normal, at first. Ben was just as sweet as ever as he led her to one of the private kitchens that only the staff used for dinner. It had been cleared away to seat only the two of them at a small table, a single lit candle in the center with a rose in a vase right next to it.

And they held light conversation throughout the dinner that Ben had asked prepared in advance apparently, and Mal was pleased when he brought out chocolate strawberries for dessert, which were somehow even _more_ delicious than the plain strawberries she’d tried for the first time just a couple of weeks before. The way that he remembered the strawberries, bringing them only to make her happy…it reminded her of how Evie, Jay, and Carlos would all remember her favorites and make an effort to make sure she was the one to get them when they were on the Isle. Sure, the things the other three brought wasn’t exactly healthy or of good quality, due to the fact that it had come in on the barges, but it was the thought that counted. And Ben had definitely remembered how she had loved the strawberries on the first date – even through the haze of love potion.

Or – her smile dimmed as the thought occurred to her – perhaps it was _because_ of the love potion that he remembered. It was only an infatuation – an obsession – one that made sure that he didn’t care about anything _but_ the focus of the potion. She wondered – if he wasn’t under the influence of the potion, would he even remember? Would he even care for her?

She knew that it had been necessary – a way to keep them away from the Isle so that they could help the other kids still trapped there. But still every time she looked at him she just felt so much _guilt_ and _longing_ , and she wished that they had been able to come up with some other plan that allowed them to stay in Auradon but still allowed Ben to retain his mind and sense of self.

Because the problem now was – she _liked_ him. The same way she liked Evie, and Carlos, and Jay. And she hadn’t really said it out loud or even much to herself, but she knew that she wanted to kiss him and hold hands with him. The same way she did with the other three when they were alone.

But she could never do that with Ben. She could never do anything with him while he was under the effects of the love potion, because then it wasn’t consensual and she was _not_ about that life. And she wouldn’t be able to when he wasn’t under the effects of the potion either, because as soon as he figured out what had happened he was certain to kick them _all_ out of Auradon. She cringed at the thought of his disgusted look when he realized that she was no better than any of the original Villains of the Isle.

She wished she had realized how she would come to… _care for_ Ben, before it had happened. Then maybe they _could_ have come up with some other plan that didn’t involve drugging him. Maybe it would have been possible then to believe that they could actually become something more than just “those kids from the Isle” and “the future King”.

“That was delicious,” Ben said, picking up his napkin from his lap and setting it down on the table in front of him, once the last strawberry had been eaten. She felt a thrill of fondness at the sight – he was so polite and proper, and normally she would scorn at the idea of “table manners” and “etiquette”, but somehow Ben made it cute. As soon as the thought crossed her head though, she squashed it thoroughly to try and suffocate it from her mind.

“And the company was superb,” Ben said, quirking a little smile at her, raising his wine glass with hot chocolate in it toward her, because he was a complete dork like that.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Mal said with a smirk, affecting casual, like she wasn’t hating herself for every second she enjoyed with him, and licked strawberry juice from her thumb before rising to her feet, grabbing her dishes to help with cleanup.

Ben followed her with his own dishes, and they companionably washed and dried the dishes, holding light talk about classes and students as they did.

It was after she put the last fork away and turned back to the table when she saw that Ben was watching her from where he leaned against the counter. His expression didn’t spell any danger or cause for alarm, but it wasn’t an expression that she could interpret, and that made her uncertain.

“What?” she said, gratified that she sounded convincingly lighthearted and teasing. “Do I still have chocolate on my face?”

“No,” Ben murmured, smiling a little as he drew closer to her. He didn’t trap her against the counter, but he was close enough that she could smell the hot chocolate on his breath from minutes before. Before she could laugh and turn away, he took her hand in one of his.

“Did I mention that I’m in love with you?” he said with a little smile, swinging their clasped hands a little.

Mal felt her heart drop with guilt and something else, but somehow she was able to muster up a smile for the boy staring at her so intently.

“Well, good, because I kinda like you too,” she told him, hoping that that was enough. It seemed to be, because his smile didn’t falter at the passive words. His free hand went up to touch the side of her face, pushing back a strand of loose hair before the hand gently cradled her cheek.

“Mal,” he said, voice quiet, fond, and ringing with something like hope, “I would give my kingdom for just one kiss.”

Mal’s half-hearted smile dropped immediately at the words, because – well, she knew that love potions turned the victim’s attention completely to the object of their (magic-induced) affection. She knew that she would become the obsession, the whole _world_ of Ben, as soon as the potion took effect. But somehow, some part of her thought that he would care about other things, about his kingdom that he would become leader of before the week was out. She knew from time spent with him before the potion that the kingdom was important to him, that he had faith that he would be able to help _everyone_. That was who he was – he _wanted_ to help, in any way that he could.

And this potion had taken that away.

The potion had done more than turn his devotion to her – it had erased what made him, _him_. And he was still kind, yes, but…he wasn’t Ben. Not like this. Not when he would give up his birthright for something so petty as a _kiss_.

Ben was slowly leaning in closer, eyes still open as he watched her, and Mal turned away, looking down and to the side before his lips could meet hers. She bit her lip, fighting with herself for a moment before looking back at Ben, tightening her grip on his hand in a brief squeeze before releasing him.

“Come with me,” she directed, turning and walking to the door, trusting that he would follow her.

“Where are we going?” he asked her, following obediently behind her.

Mal just shook her head though, and Ben seemed to understand the message that questions were not allowed, and fell silent, though he did speed up a little so he was almost next to her. She looked away, chewing her lip in stress.

They soon arrived at the dorm that the four of them shared, and Mal walked in, leaving Ben standing awkwardly in the doorway. She wished that Jay and Carlos had still been making out on the bed so that she could have someone to talk some sense into her, or simply just stop her, but she could hear that they had already made it to the shower in the connecting bathroom. They would doubtlessly be a while. There was no one to interfere with her snap decision.

She couldn’t decide whether this was a good decision or a bad one, but nonetheless she crouched to get to the box under her bed, hidden even from the other three in the room.

The anti-love potion had a stronger flavor than the love potion, so she had hidden it in a chocolate-based cookie. With Ben liking chocolate so much, it was convenient, because he wouldn’t be able to resist the dessert when she gave it to him. It had been made less than a week after the first love potion – coincidentally (or not) the night after they had gotten back from that first date at the Lake. It had been hidden under her bed since then – just in case.

“God, they’re going to hate me,” she muttered to herself, even as she rose to her feet and took the cookie back to Ben.

“Another cookie?” Ben asked, voice delighted. “Mal, you shouldn’t have.”

“Just a midnight snack,” Mal said lightly, voice cracking only slightly at the end. She cleared her throat, and shoved it into his hands. “I’ll – see you tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Ben said easily, and his eyes caught hers for a moment, something unreadable there before he looked back down at the little plastic baggie with the single cookie. “I know we just ate, but you know chocolate is my weakness.”

And then, before she could make even a move to stop him, the bag was open and he was taking a large bite out of the cookie, smile breaking across his face.

“Hm,” he said, while Mal watched, frozen in stunned disbelief while her heart began to race in anticipation for what would surely happen next. “It’s a little stale. But – is that coconut? Good choice there. Nice combination.”

“You…” Mal stammered, and then shook her head to clear it. “How do you…feel?”

Ben shrugged. “Alright. Should I feel differently?”

Mal just blinked at him, jaw slightly dropped, and she looked over at the spell book on her desk with some suspicion. Was the anti-love potion even real? It would be just like her mother not to _actually_ make one, because Long Live Evil. Or perhaps Mal just wasn’t practiced enough with magic and potion making, and she’d done this one wrong? Or maybe it just had a very short shelf life…it _had_ been sitting under her bed for a couple of weeks.

Ben took pity on her then, and after a glance down the hallway to be sure no one else was around, he looked back at her and said lightly, “Maybe the anti-love potion just takes a bit longer to take effect. Wait it out, maybe?”

Mal blinked at him again, and then shook her head, eyebrows scrunching in confusion and alarm. “Wait – you…know?”

“That you love potioned me?” Ben said, allowing just a bit of disapproval bleed into his expression, raising a singular eyebrow. “Yeah. The Enchanted Lake – it washes off all spells and enchantments.”

“But – that was – that was _two weeks ago_!”

“Mhmmm,” Ben agreed with a nod. “But I figured if I told you that the potion had been washed away that you would find a way to dose me with another one.”

Guilt completely covered Mal’s expression, with a healthy amount of worry thrown in there for flavor. “I didn’t – we didn’t – it wasn’t supposed to – it wasn’t _personal_ …”

“I know that now,” Ben said, knowing already what she was trying to say. “After the Garden Party, you were scared of being thrown back to the Isle. This was the only way out you could see.”

“Don’t throw the other three back,” Mal said suddenly, looking up at him pleadingly. “They didn’t do this – it was me. Just send _me_ back, _please_.”

“Mal,” Ben said with a sigh, looking sad, but Mal cut him off before he could continue, not wanting to hear his denial, determined to convince him to her idea.

“Really, I’m the daughter of Maleficent – the worst on the Isle,” Mal insisted. “Obviously _I_ would be the one to come up with this idea. The other three don’t need to be dragged into this – I’m the one that went off the reservation.”

“Mal, I’m not sending _anyone_ back,” Ben said, raising his voice slightly to be heard as she continued to ramble and insist that she be the only one held responsible. She silenced, faintly registering the shower turning off in the bathroom but pushing it aside for now as she stared, dumbfounded at the blond in front of her.

He shook his head ruefully at her, rubbing the side of his jaw absently. “Sending you guys back was _never_ the plan. If you’d let me speak after the Garden Party, you would have found out that I was just apologizing for everyone being awful to you. I know that the original Proclamation said that you guys would only be here for the school year and go back to your homes on the Isle in the summer, but that was before I found out what it was actually like there. If you never want to go back there, you don’t have to.”

“Never?” Mal’s voice cracked in the middle of the word, but she didn’t even notice, widened and hopeful eyes trained on him.

“Never,” Ben confirmed. “And I still plan to help other kids off the Isle.” He sighed then and shook his head. “The problem is, that has always been on the conditions that you don’t do things that a Villain would do – that your parents would do. And we can talk later when all of you are here to listen, but you need to be willing to follow the rules of Auradon to be able to stay here. That means no more mind-altering potions.”

“We promise,” Mal said quickly, willing to say or do anything right then, because her fears were being assuaged and really the requirements weren’t _that_ huge.

“Good,” Ben said, and sighed again. “Because I really want you guys to stay.”

Mal seemed to see something in his face then that she was finally able to recognize, but she wasn’t positive that it was what she thought it was. Tilting her head a little, she asked uncertainly, “So, these past couple of weeks…you’ve just been…faking…everything?”

Ben’s lips turned up in a crooked grin, and he reached out, stroking her chin with his thumb. “Not all of it,” he said honestly. He leaned forward, and for a moment Mal thought that he was going to kiss her, for real this time, but a moment later he turned and pressed a feather-soft kiss to her cheek instead. When he pulled back, his eyelashes brushed her face, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

He smiled gently at her, and then looked over her shoulder, where at some point in the past few seconds Mal had noticed that Jay and Carlos had returned from the bathroom, and now stood watching them. She glanced back, seeing that both of them were wrapped only in towels, but Carlos was standing just behind Jay, self-conscious of the scars across his torso when faced with anyone outside the Four. Jay had a bruise on the juncture where his neck met shoulder.

“I’ll talk with you guys later,” Ben said to the room at large. “Preferably when Evie is here, too.”

Before Mal could unravel the deeper meaning that he surely meant behind the seeming benign statement, Ben winked quickly at the other two boys, and with a last, fleeting smile, he turned and walked away, back toward his own dorm.

It was silent for a few moments after Ben left, none of them moving, before Jay finally spoke.

“What the hell just happened?”

**Author's Note:**

> Not to worry, this is not the discussion to deal with the love potion - this is just the prologue. Next installment will have more of the needed discussion and chastisement.
> 
> Also, I hope you liked the inclusion of those lines from "Did I Mention" - I really couldn't resist when I got the idea haha.
> 
> And if anyone is confused about Ben's plan, or maybe upset about the weird connotations associated with it, rest assured that he was only testing Mal in that he wanted to see her expressions up close when faced with sketch things that typically go along with a love potion. It wouldn't have gone any farther than kissing, in his plan - he's not going to take advantage of her any more than a perceived taking advantage of him. But he wanted to test perhaps how far she might take things, or what excuses she might give, because he's already noticed that she shies away from kissing him in more casual moments. This way was more direct and clear with his intentions, so SHE would have had to be more direct and clear to get out of it, should that be the path she chose. Also, he wanted to be sure that that idea was ticked off the list, of her dosing him because she liked him. When she didn't kiss him he (correctly) decided that it was the Isle thing that had them panicking about being sent back.
> 
> Also, saying he would give up his kingdom for a kiss was deliberate too, because if she asked for something in payment for the kiss that would set off alarm bells and he would know that it was more than wanting to stay off the Isle that led to the dosing, and depending on what she asked for he would know more of what to possibly defend the kingdom against. 
> 
> Hope that all makes sense.
> 
> If there's still iffiness for you guys and this makes you uncomfortable...well, it's my fic. If you're not seeing this note until after you've read this, it's your own fault for not reading the note in the beginning that said that there would be warnings at the end of the fic if you want to check before reading. Don't like, don't read.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys DID like it, and for those of you continuing to read, thank you! Hopefully the next installment will be up soon, where I plan that I will take away the "pre-" of their relationship. ;)


End file.
